Executive control (EC) is a central construct in developmental science,
although measurement limitations have hindered understanding of its
nature and development in young children, relation to social risk, and
prediction of important outcomes. Disentangling EC from the foundational
cognitive abilities it regulates and that are inherently required for
successful executive task completion (e.g., language, visual/spatial
perception, and motor abilities) is particularly challenging at
preschool age, when these foundational abilities are still developing
and consequently differ substantially among children. A novel latent
bifactor modeling approach delineated respective EC and foundational
cognitive abilities components that undergird executive task performance
in a socio demographically stratifi ed sample of 388 preschoolers in a
longitudinal, cohort-sequential study. The bifactor model revealed a
developmental shift, where both EC and foundational cognitive abilities
contributed uniquely to executive task performance at ages 4.5 and 5.25
years, but were not separable at ages 3 and 3.75. Contrary to the view
that EC is vulnerable to socio-familial risk, the contributions of
household financial and learning resources to executive task performance
were not specific to EC but were via their relation to foundational
cognitive abilities. EC, though, showed a unique, discriminant relation
with hyperactive symptoms late in the preschool period, whereas
foundational cognitive abilities did not predict specifi c dimensions of
dysregulated behavior. These findings form the basis for a new,
integrated approach to the measurement and conceptualization of EC,
which includes dual consideration of the contributions of EC and
foundational cognitive abilities to executive task performance,
particularly in the developmental context of preschool.
